Forget contraction, try expansion

When the Ilya Kovalchuk trade was still just a rumor, I checked the possible suitors to try to figure out who was most likely to acquire the Russian sniper.

It was apparent the Devils' stable of young talent allowed them to make the move, but, what also became apparent was that all of those teams, and pretty much any NHL team, are chock full of NHL-ready talent. This brought to mind the always-present contraction talk.

Why, with all of this talent and cities in Canada screaming for NHL teams would the league consider contraction?

Today's young players are getting better and better and there's more of them; they'll need somewhere to play and if the NHL cuts back its number of teams, then the quality of hockey in competing leagues will increase even further, perhaps to the point of another competing North American League.